Aggression and Heat

My gilt is ~4 months old and lives with a barrow same age. This morning for nearly half an hour she tried repeatedly to mount him. Poor little guy was trying to spin away when he wasn't being mashed into the ground! LOL I assume this means she's in heat or almost? Isn't that kind of young? She's always been a bit aggressive. Is that likely to get worse?

Little Puerco is Mr Sweetiepie mellow boy. If he weren't castrated would he be that charming? He really is a doll, I'm sorry their personalities aren't reversed. Despite all my fencing problems, if she were like him I'd keep and breed her. I'm still considering it, but if she were alone would she go nuts from boredom and loneliness? Get destructive and other problems?

My gilt is ~4 months old and lives with a barrow same age. This morning for nearly half an hour she tried repeatedly to mount him. Poor little guy was trying to spin away when he wasn't being mashed into the ground! LOL I assume this means she's in heat or almost? Isn't that kind of young? She's always been a bit aggressive. Is that likely to get worse?

Little Puerco is Mr Sweetiepie mellow boy. If he weren't castrated would he be that charming? He really is a doll, I'm sorry their personalities aren't reversed. Despite all my fencing problems, if she were like him I'd keep and breed her. I'm still considering it, but if she were alone would she go nuts from boredom and loneliness? Get destructive and other problems?

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We too had a gilt that showed all the signs of heat at 4 1/2 months of age.
The mounting and roughness of animals in heat is natural, but it does wear some of them down. Usually only lasts 1 to 2 days.
I suppose how each pig's temperament turns out varies on a case by case basis. If she is easygoing and cooperates with your efforts, might make a good momma sow. If she is continually ornery or a fence crawler, would probably put her in freezer.

Gilts usually go into heat at around 6 months of age. Yours might be playing for dominance or just playing. Youngsters ride each other a lot. I don't know a lot about domestic sows but my wild gilts never went into heat that early, and I think my Yorkshire sows didn't go into heat until 6 months either but can't recall exactly. Up North is right about pig temperaments. There are all kinds. When you are facing a full grown sow, a good temperament is important, imo For breeding you can get a sow you would be more comfortable with - they do tend to get a little uppity when their litter is on the ground and when they are nursing and hungry. Mine could have knocked me over at feeding time but not because they were aggressive. I can't imagine an aggressive full grown sow.

Boars are really cool until they get into full sexual maturity. Then they are pushy and arrogant, especially with sows.

This is pretty normal. Every pig is different and I wouldn't necessarily worry about dominance or over-aggression. I have a young boar that is around 200 pounds and he is a good little dude. Anytime I give him a rub he flips on his back so I can scratch his belly! My older boar is an idiot though and I don't trust him as far as I can throw him. I can't wait to get him off my farm. Sows, as mentioned, WILL get nasty when they have pigs. You can never let your guard down at this time. After weaning, they will go back to normal. I wouln't worry about your guy Firefly. If he gets fed up enough or it gets too rough, he will let her know.